Anxiety

Have you ever wondered about your purpose and place in the universe? Many of us have had an experience like that at one point or another. Maybe it came upon you as you pondered the vastness of nature and what it means to exist. Perhaps the thought captured your attention briefly, but it quickly passed, swallowed up by daily demands like chores, work, paying bills, school runs, and the habits and rhythms of life. For some people, thoughts about purpose, meaning, and the nature of our existence are more than just passing or intrusive thoughts. They can become distressing realities that they live with, and they can be quite damaging to one’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being. These ongoing thoughts and feelings can grow into existential anxiety. Existential Thoughts and Existential Anxiety Some people naturally gravitate toward thinking about things beyond the humdrum of daily life. However, even if you don’t carve time out of your day to ponder the deep questions of life, meaning, and the universe, that doesn’t mean you can’t feel unease about your life. That unease may come in the form of restlessness, struggling to sleep or make decisions, or just feeling like there’s no point in your life or the things you’ve been doing. You may start having existential thoughts when encountering an event or situation that makes you confront your or a loved one’s mortality. Let’s say you’re involved in an accident, and you escape uninjured. That could leave you pondering on things like the meaning of life. If a loved one gets quite ill, or you lose them, it can lead you to start thinking about meaning and purpose. Existential anxiety, on the other hand, is more intense, and it can be described as a sense of fear or uneasiness about the meaning [...]

Anxiety is real and it’s no respecter of persons. It’s that gnawing little pest that sneaks up on you when you least expect it, like a toddler with a permanent marker near your freshly painted walls. Anxiety may be real and frustrating and even life-altering, but it doesn’t get the final say over your life! There are many strategies you can implement to help attack the anxiety that plagues you, but one that is often overlooked is also one of the simplest to put into action: your dinner plate. In this article, we’ll look at healthy food for anxiety and how it can help. What is anxiety, anyway? Anxiety can make your thoughts race, your heart pound, and try to convince you that the worst-case scenario about why your boss called a meeting is true. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) can make this a daily reality, affecting everything from your sleep to your relationships. The world tells us to medicate or meditate – both of which can help – but did you know that there’s a divine design to what we eat and how it affects how we feel? Let’s dive in! (And don’t worry, there’s dark chocolate ahead!) Food for Anxiety Before you roll your eyes and think, “Great! More Stuff I can’t eat,” let me assure you – this isn’t a conversation about diet restrictions. This is about freedom! Yes, freedom! Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Freedom from the worry that stalks your brain at 3 AM. Freedom from anxiety that makes you want to wear your blanket like a cape all day. And believe it or not, part of that freedom might just come from your grocery cart. So, what food for anxiety should you eat when it feels [...]

The conversations you have with yourself, in your mind or out loud, can either dial up or dial down the amount you worry about. “Inner talk is one of the most effective, least-used tools available to master the psyche and foster life success,” says Psychologist Ethan Kross. Times have changed since we thought others were crazy for talking to themselves. Many of us are doing it, and self-talk is recognized as an exceptionally useful tool as we navigate our various roles and areas of responsibility as a colleague, parents, siblings, students, and more. The quiet words we have with ourselves can help or hinder us as we learn how to stop worrying through self-talk. There are two types of self-talk. There is the quick reacting, knee jerk, and spontaneous reflex which comes from the emotional side of our brain. It is the hard-wired voice of survival and often it veers toward criticism or being negative which creates the environment required for self-doubt, depression, anxiety, and self-sabotage. The second voice comes from our prefrontal cortex, or thinking brain, and so it is linked to a greater ability to be introspective, deliberate, and have positive thoughts. Your internal voice of kindness is a skill that you have learned to tone down the effect of your emotional brain and give you healthy emotions and reactions such as happiness, lucidity, self-confidence, and composure that help you to stop the voice of worry and panic. The science of self-talk. Interestingly, studies show that how we use this quiet inner voice makes a real difference in our stress levels, how we respond to disappointments, as well as the capacity we have to accomplish tasks and fulfill various roles. If we listen to our natural fight or flight knee-jerk inner voice, we may well be too [...]